Big Lead Sports Bar

1/03/2008

The News

Well, the recently-announced "Mondesi's House Team" is coming together nicely. The initial lineup of writers will be at least 10 deep, and quality is certainly not being spared for quantity. There is some impressive talent and even more impressive writing resumes here.

And even though I wasn't really soliciting for any more writers in the last post on this topic, I appreciate the avalanche of requests to write for the site. I wish there was a way to include all of you, but if this goes well, maybe expansion will be in the near future.

This will be a bit of a risk on my part, but I think the writers I've selected will mesh nicely with the style I've developed in the last year and a half. This site has certainly outgrown my one-person format; very soon, you'll have a greater frequency of posts from a variety of different voices. I hope you enjoy it.

--Are you wearing a hat right now? If so, take it off and throw it on the floor in honor of Evgeni Malkin's first career hat trick. The Pens scored three goals in 48 seconds to put away the Maple Leafs, 6-2.

--Congrats to WVU for hiring Bill Stewart, a.k.a. "Larry Coker 2.0". Clearly this was a hire based on emotion. How else do you describe giving the job to a coach whose career record is highlighted by an 8-25 mark at VMI? And Mountaineer fans, one question: if WVU gets blown out, does Stewart still get the job?

Interesting footnote: while compiling those eight wins at VMI, Stewart gave a coaching job to a young man just starting his career by the name of Mike Tomlin.

--Got an interesting email to share with you from Dave Zigerelli, a displaced Monacan (you know, someone from Monaca) who is now a producer for the History Channel and living in NYC:

"I wanted to forward you the information for a comedy podcast my buddy and I record every week called "The Burghcast". My friend Matt Little (who also lives in NYC and works as a standup comic) and I record a new one after every Steeler game. We play two middle aged Steeler fans from Beaver Falls named Herb and Buxy. We essentially do a brief rap up of each game and then discuss topics ranging from Heluva Good potato chip dip to the many merits of Gabriel Brothers Clothing.

If you have a free second, please check it out. I'd love to hear any feedback you may have.

You can go to Itunes and search "Burghcast" and our podcast should pop right up.

--Why should Bill Parcells hire Big Snack from Pierogis N'at as the new coach of the Dolphins? I don't know either, but he couldn't do much worse than Cam Cameron. I guess you'll just have to click the link to find out why.

--It's the NBA's All-Ugly Team! You'd think with the long cash they make (sorry, I stole that one from Plex), they could afford some plastic surgery.

--A war of words has started with Mike Dempsey, a Jacksonville sports radio host, after he called Steeler Nation a myth. More of an explanation at hereswhatimsaying.blogspot.com.

-Having already burned through 3.2 million copies, Sports Illustrated is now releasing even more issues of its Sportsman of the Year mag, featuring Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. Where's Peter King getting the money to buy all of those?

9 comments:

Can I write about it for the website?! How about the Amos Zereoue, Craig Wilson, Kordell Stewart, and Alexei Morosov ones?

And wierd, I just came home from going out (still on Xmas break til Monday!) and played a spirited round of Mario Kart 64 that I downloaded onto Wii. NOW I find out that I should be reorganizing my priorities instead....

God, from owning old worthless Pittsburgh bobbleheads, to finding out I'm a loser with nothing better to do than Mario Kart... I'm sorry I logged onto this site before passing out!

No recap of last night's Pens game is complete without some kudos to Ruutu for the whoppin' he put on Darcy Tucker in the 2nd period. One of the best, if not THE best, hockey fight I've seen in a long time.

As a lifelong Steeler fan, I have to give a (grudging) tip of the hat to the Jags' O-Line on that key 4th down scramble at the end. If Harrison gets off the blocker, just a bit, and into that hole, it's game over, or worse case scenario, a first down still out of field goal range with the clock ticking, and a good chance for the Steelers to close it out. I think it was Barnes who knocked him just off-balance enough to give Garrard room to break the long run. Hate to see it, of course, but I have to give credit where it's due.

People will be looking to place blame, as they always do. Don't blame Ben. Yeah, he sucked in the first half. But he rallied them in the second. He put the terrible first half behind him, and put his team in a position to win with a minute and a half left. That's the sign of a great QB. Big Ben did not cost the Steelers this game.

Even the D didn't, on the 4th down scramble. As I mentioned above, it was a great block by a very good lineman at a key point in the game, and a clever playcall.

I don't even blame Ben's attempted scramble on the Steelers' 3rd down prior to that, where a 1st would have closed it out. Dump Truck isn't going to give you the 6 yards you need, you know that given the way Jax handled the run all night. So it's either pass or scramble. Safe play is to scramble, last thing you want is another pick on that part of the field. Unfortunately Jax didn't bite on the fake, and they read it all the way. Again, credit to a good D for recognizing what was the proper play in that situation.

If there's anyone to blame, it's the punt coverage unit. Late in the 4th, game on the line, a 20 yard punt return is simply inexcusable. The punt itself wasn't bad, there was enough hang time for the gunners to get down the field, but where were they? That was terrible, and if anything cost the Steelers the game, it was that return right there. Certainly the sack/fumble at the end didn't ... getting to the 25-30 for Reed wasn't going to happen in under 30 seconds with no timeouts, not the way Jax was containing the outside all night.

Like I said, tough loss. Hard to swallow. Tougher still because it was to a team that made some truly great plays at the end, making it tough to point fingers. Hats off to the Jags for giving the Steelers one hell of a fight, and hats off to the Steelers for coming back to get to within 90 seconds of pulling off a seemingly-improbable victory.

And at least, at the end of the day, it was fun to watch. Wow. A meaningful final minute ... now that's playoff football!

Prediction: next season, in a rematch, Fast Willie runs all over the Jags behind a revamped O-Line.